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Visa stock lost nearly 4.5% of its market value this week, despite a 12% YoY surplus in its Q2 earnings on July 23. It came out at $2.42 per share basically in line with consensus estimates, but 3.5% below the previous quarter's record number, while the global card service's revenue rose 1.35% to set a new historical high at $8.9 billion. However, some large brokerage houses chose to cut their price targets for the company on growing concerns about slowing growth in customer spending, especially in the U.S. (due to higher interest rates) and China's payments industries.

These are just a few examples. Mizuho financial group reduced its price estimate for Visa share price from $275 to $251, while keeping a neutral rating. Jason Kupferberg at Bank of America Securities reduced his price target from $297 to $279, as the results were not as good as the banking institution actually expected, sparking "louder debates about the growth outlook for [Visa’s] core business, which we estimate slowed to ~3%". Visa's growth in the U.S. was just +5%, which was not surpassing the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for the quarter, and therefore not above the inflationary pressure effects.

Argus Media, an independent provider of price information and consultancy services, is from a moderately optimistic camp on Visa, however it also revised its target area from $310 to $290, which only corresponds Visa's all-time high of March 2024. Arvind Ramnani at Piper Sandler maintained an Overweight rating for Visa but also cut the price target from $322 to $319, citing international transaction and data processing revenue lags "slightly below modeled estimates". A higher target, previously marked at $326 by Morgan Stanley analysts, has been lowered to $322. Will Nance at Goldman Sachs shifted its price target from $334 to $317, even though reaffirming a Buy rating, given "weaker volumes in APAC" (Asia-Pacific region) as well as "softer macro trends" in July.

Visa's CEOs confirmed their own full-year guidance for 2024 for "low double-digit" revenue growth and "in the low teens" for EPS, which means stagnation in the second half of the year considering current results. A white stripe was that cross-border volumes (excluding within EU transactions) added 14%, yet it may be attributed much to the spring and summer season of travelling.

Anyway, Visa share price is struggling around $255 for the last three days, with several attempts for intraday rebounds, but each time diving under this waterline again. New Buy positioning is possible only if the price will prove its resilience to the current bullish pressure to break through a technical resistance at $265 per share (here is an overnight gap level on July 23/24). Otherwise, a failure below $250 per share may lead to a short-term sell-off with a quick retest of a lower $228 to $240 range of October 2023.